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Tuesday, July 7

Tombstone Tuesday: A Spin Around Mt Calvary

...and how Martin Handley's tombstone became this...

It's been way too hot lately to cruise cemeteries for interesting stones. But yesterday morning was blissfully cool, and the day's errands happened to take me past Mount Calvary Cemetery in Topeka, KS.

Alas, the sections just inside the gate were definitely in need of a trim. Much too shaggy for photos. Only the parts within sight of a busy cross street had been mowed recently. Luckily this happened to be where the oldest, most elaborate stones were located, and I happily snapped away.

I came across Martin Handley's stone on the way out.

Poor Martin died 7th June 1878 at age 33. That's all I know about him. Short life, but a tall stone - 8 ft or more - that will be part of a very large tree in a few years.

Mount Calvary is a Catholic cemetery. Stones topped with crosses are quite common. Even so, I was fascinated by the pattern of crosses I captured in the shot of Martin's without trying to do so. What you see here is only the bottom half of the original.

I saved the part you see at the beginning as a different file name, then played with it. I like playing with the photos I make, which is not the same as playing with the food I cook. (Just wanted to make that clear.)

Thanks to the sunshine reflecting off the dew, the green of the grass overpowered the coloring of the stone. To neutralize it, I greyed out everything but the stone, softened the lot until it was mostly an illusion, then lightly tinted it sepia. This of course rendered that copy useless as a tombstone photo, so not to waste it, I used the text tool to add "Happy Tombstone Tuesday".

And there you have it...how poor Martin Handley's tombstone became this week's TT greeting.